Manage customer service for Building services

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hi I'm Derek Business Systems coach for  contractors today I'm going to talk about   customer service for your Construction  Company making your construction clients   go wow I can't believe that was such  a great experience incredible [Music]   all right so before we jump in big thumbs up for  this video if you got benefits out of this if you   enjoy the content give it a thumbs up helps me  helps the channel helps you as well because then   I create more videos so make sure to subscribe  and get all the awesome content all right so   first things first customer service so important I  probably don't need to tell you you know what the   benefits are but obviously having happy clients  is crucial in construction and the first way that   I'm going to talk about doing this is trust and  openness so it can be difficult it's one thing   everybody knows like yeah you know you got to be  open with clients and have them trust you that's   pretty obvious but are you actually practicing you  know accountability are you keeping your promises   are you if you say you're going to be having  a quote ready in a week or the next day or if   you're going to show up at this time if something  bad happens on site or you miss something how   accountable are you that's going to be huge  as well as openness so you don't not that you   want to be telling the client like every little  thing about you and your business and exactly   what's happening you've got to you know be smart  about it and make sure that they have a good you   know idea that you are competent and know what's  going on but at the same time if you messed up if   there is an issue on site if you know you're going  over schedule costs have gone over you know over   an employee doesn't show up you know be honest  and and just open and just let them know what's   happening generally like probably 80 percent  of the time even if there's an issue if you're   proactive and you let the client know like as soon  as you do or just right after they will appreciate   that they may not be happy with it but at least  there's that trust and there's that openness so   that at least they know that even though something  got messed up and it's not great they still have   confidence that you are going to be on their  side and you're going to be telling them you know   what's going on and being open and truthful and  then finally for openness and trust you want to   be able for them to access information about their  projects so you should have a dashboard system   um some sort of access to info like a Google doc  if you've got project management software they'll   have like a client portal so somewhere where they  can see the schedule they can see budgets they   can see uh selections for what they've seen  did any information pictures on the project   so any information into the project given that  information it does a bunch of things you know   what it opens up that trust and honesty because  they know like hey we've got this information   if we need it we can refer to it it keeps them  from having to call you and ask for it all the   time so that's a big pretty big bonus that  you don't have to have your clients you know   constantly calling you about this or that and  asking for information all the time and uh it's   just good practice and pretty much I would say  all clients or construction businesses generally   have something like this but if you don't you need  to get this set up right away so that's the first   thing to customer service is maintaining that  trust and openness with your clients second one   expectations so unmet expectations are going to  be the biggest roadblock to you providing a proper   experience like a great experience to your clients  getting that you know that conversation out in the   open and making sure you're pre-gaming it early  with some sort of an expectations doc so if this   could be like a what to expect doc introduction  letter to the clients and just outlining exactly   what the expectations are and what you know  what are their expectations that they can expect   from you and what you expect from them so you  know you expect them to provide access to the   property you you expect them to make payments  within you know three days or five days of   invoicing you know you expect them to be timely  with selecting materials and you know approving   change orders stuff like this so that should all  be documented in a document that you provide to   the clients and then also what to expect during  construction so hey we're going to do this when   you know we're going to be working between these  hours you can expect guys to come and go from your   property if progress doesn't look like it's being  made you know refer to the schedule often a lot   of progress is going to look like it's done you  know in the demo and framing and roughing stage   because everything's happening and then finishing  is going to look like things slow down so however   you run your projects if you're getting the same  kind of inquiries from clients like time and time   again like they're asking you like you know why is  this happening or can you give me this information   or uh you know this issue came up and it's like  a kind of a repetitive thing put that in the   document so that you're pre-gaming it letting them  know ahead of time these issues can come up you   know this is what you can expect we do our best  tube to mitigate these problems but things happen   sometimes so setting those expectations early and  being explicit with them does a world of good and   then you want to be doing risk assessments so pre  you know starting the project do a risk assessment   of like what could go wrong what are the potential  risks what are what's different about this project   what's different about this client what kind  of things could come up possibly and you don't   need to tell the client like every little thing  that could go wrong but if there is some inherent   risks that are you know could possibly come  up communicate that to the client because a   they'll trust you more B they will be less you  know apprehensive if during the project lo and   behold something you're concerned about does  come to pass you can you know issue a change   order for it and it's not a big surprise it's  like you know we talked about this this was it   was a risk and it ended up happening now we've got  to you know spend an extra couple Grand to fix it   or whatever so telling them ahead of time what's  going to happen and then creating an upstream you   know Upstream is like taking care of the problem  Upstream before the project starts so it doesn't   become a big issue during the project all right  so that's expectations expectations could be   its own video I should probably do it on video  on itself because uh it's huge but that's the   second part of customer service is is make sure  your expectations are communicated and then you   do everything you can to meet those expectations  all right moving on number three still with me   here stay to the end got an awesome bonus  for you great resource for you to improve   your uh construction company so number three  is team training so you're not the only person   in your business that is going to be dealing with  customer service unless you have no employees but   if you have any kind of employees you're going  to have team members that are communicating and   interacting with your clients even if they're not  directly talking with clients they're still going   to be on site they're still going to be around  clients they still maybe you know be showing   up and doing whatever so put this in an employee  handbook of like how do you want your employees   to communicate with your clients you know how  should they be showing up how should they dress   how should they communicate if a client asks  themselves about budget or schedules or uh you   know what they're doing what should they tell them  well you know you should start talk to the project   manager because they have the best information  and they need to know what's going on I'm not   the person to be asking about you know budget or  schedule or you know what's going on inside here   you should be talking with you know maybe you  the boss or a project manager or whoever right   so provide training to your employees of how they  should be communicating and talking with clients   and it may come down to a lot of easy things and  get feedback from clients I can remember a job I   had my lead Carpenter who's going to project and  we were going there to fix one thing and then it   was like a couple months before we started the  main project but he went there and came down to   like a bathroom issue right you've probably had  this come up before but anyways it was just you   know miscommunication and the clients you know  weren't super unhappy but came up as a concern   or whatever uh complaint just because you know  their families using the washroom in the morning   and they're obviously the carpenter shows up  and they need to do and just everything won't   get into the nitty-gritty details but anyways  simple things like that put it in your employee   handbook you know shake the hand introduce  yourself hey I'm Joe from XYZ con Contracting   um ask them if it's okay to use their washroom  if you need to use ask them if it's okay if you   you know go upstairs to go do some setting up some  protection or whatever so just how they should be   handling clients throughout your organization all  right so pretty sure you got that and then finally   number four moving on weekly updates and check-ins  so be preemptive be professional you know send   your clients information before they ask for it if  a problem comes up call them tell them there's a   problem if you are thinking that they're concerned  if you're getting Vibes that like things aren't   going well for the clients have an open discussion  with them just say like hey you know I've just   noticed that you know I've seen a lot of emails  from you asking questions about you know this and   that is there any concerns with the project or you  know is there anything that we need to to discuss   or talk about and they may be open to like telling  you a bunch of stuff that if you would have just   been emailing back and forth or texting back  and forth you know would have probably caused   problems later on that they weren't telling you  you know up front and then you want to be sending   them weekly updates so emails some sort of an  update of what's going on where things are at if   you can send them budget information to send them  information you know regularly probably the same   day every week so they can expect it and this  will cause them to call you less because they   don't need to call you figure out what's going on  it's like oh this is what's happening they get an   update they know what's going on they can see the  schedule all that kind of stuff so keep that those   communication lines open and keep it consistent  so like I said bonus check the description of   this video there is a link in there click the  link you can get signed up for a free course   it's a training program how to build out systems  in your business fill out the different functions   the processes the systems of your business all  the benefits and how to do it how to implement   them so you can save time you can increase your  profitability build a business that works without   you here's the best making sure your customers are  well taken care of and their expectations are met